KI Media: “Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Comrades-In-Arms” plus 24 more |
- Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Comrades-In-Arms
- US, local forces provide aid to Cambodians
- Exhibition explores Cambodia's spirit
- Minister Lashes Out at Wasted Anti-Trafficking Efforts
- US-Cambodians Begin Signing Landmine Petition
- Unease at peace-keeping drills: Thai soldiers say Cambodian troops 'won't talk to them'
- Key Trial of Khmer Rouge Leaders Starts in Cambodia
- The troubling involvement of former monk Tach Berong in Wat Vipassanaram (Wat Ay-rab) in Long Beach
- Cambodia Primed for the Main Event
- Cambodia: Tatai River Sand Dredging Operations Cause Problems [-Country for Sale by CPP LY YONG PHAT]
- Viet invaders sent back home in coffins
- Laos defies neighbours on dam project - environmentalists
- Pol Pot’s Legacy: Cambodian Refugees in Poor Health
- Harvard University's JUSTICE with Michael Sandel - Episode 4
- SRP-Europe Seminar and Information meeting with Opposition Leader Sam Rainsy and SRP MPs
- CCHR offers condolences to the family of acid attack victim In Soklyda and calls for a holistic approach to acid violence
- French Prime Minister set to visit
- Acid victim in notorious attack dies
- Convention on the Rights of the Child
- ECCC Law
- Hello VOA: Guests are AKRVC officers Theary Seng, Ly Monysak
- Jurisdiction key in 003 fight
- Fighting for justice one step at a time: A day in the life of Mu Sochua
- Cambodian Gold Rush Lures Foreign Giants
- Where Are They Now?
| Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Comrades-In-Arms Posted: 23 Jun 2011 05:41 PM PDT
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| US, local forces provide aid to Cambodians Posted: 23 Jun 2011 05:36 PM PDT
By Cpl. Kentavist P. Brackin Marine Corps Bases Japan KAMPOT PROVINCE, Kingdom of Cambodia — More than 40 Marines and sailors from 3rd Medical Battalion, 3rd Marine Logistics Group, III Marine Expeditionary Force, provided medical and dental aid to more than 2,700 Cambodian citizens during the combined Medical Civic Action Program at the Chumkiri Secondary School here June 17-19. The program is part of the Cambodia Interoperability Program 2011, a frequently-held exercise between the U.S. and Royal Cambodian Armed Forces that allows both nations to conduct medical and dental operations, improve interoperability by working together and fosters goodwill to ensure regional peace and stability. "The mission was to build interoperability by providing aid to the people of Cambodia; so I believe all will consider this phase of our mission a success," said Navy Lt. Jeff C. Hertz, officer-in-charge of operations for 3rd Med. Bn. The sailors and Marines worked alongside RCAF medical personnel each day to provide medical and dental care to locals during the MEDCAP. Local residents received medical assistance, including medical consultation in pediatrics, reproductive health, optometry and surgical consultation. "This is the first time our battalion has ever had a surgery team come along and participate in a MEDCAP," said Hertz. "This opportunity has provided great training for our surgical personnel and has allowed patients to receive a service not offered within their community." Hua Hon, a Cambodian citizen, was very happy with the services provided. Hon's son has suffered from coughs and night fevers ever since he was born, but his condition has never been officially diagnosed. "I was happy to stand in line because I got to see American doctors before they left our village, and receive some medicine for my son," said Hon. Local residents were not the only ones grateful for CIP '11. "I am very appreciative for clinic services the U.S. and Cambodian military provided here for the people. It is very important for their health," said Kill Ratapon, the district governor for Chumriki. "I hope that our two countries will continue to work together and come here again in the future."  | ||||
| Exhibition explores Cambodia's spirit Posted: 23 Jun 2011 05:30 PM PDT http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpXvbujaCVQ&feature=player_embedded PORTRAYING PEOPLE: Cordelle Feau took about 3500 photos in 12 days while travelling in Cambodia. 24/06/2011 NICOLA MURPHY Western Leader (New Zealand)
Spending 12 days in Cambodia was eye-opening for Cordelle Feau. She's hoping the exhibition of the photographs she took there will do the same for others. The Te Atatu Peninsula resident is in her second year at Elam School of Fine Arts but took time out in April to travel to the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh to do charity work. Along with 11 other members of her church, Te Atatu Bible Chapel, she spent time in orphanages and volunteered for the Rock Foundation Cambodia, a non-profit organisation that works to improve conditions for squatters who spend their days breaking rocks. Miss Feau says it wasn't easy to select nine photos from the 3500 she took for the exhibition at Abundance Art Gallery in Te Atatu Peninsula. "The trip was mind-blowing," the 19-year-old says. "It was crazy to see so much poverty." The group was horrified by the conditions the squatters live in. Their drinking water is muddy and they sleep under tarpaulins – even during monsoon season. Miss Feau wanted to show other Aucklanders the qualities of the Cambodian people. "I like their smiles," she says. "It's such a different culture. They have so little but they're willing to give you so much." The exhibition is on at Abundance Art Gallery, 617 Te Atatu Rd, until July 3.  | ||||
| Minister Lashes Out at Wasted Anti-Trafficking Efforts Posted: 23 Jun 2011 05:17 PM PDT
The US lists Cambodia among those countries that need to do more to combat trafficking—which generally means Cambodians being trafficked abroad. Thursday, 23 June 2011 Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh
Interior Minister Sar Kheng on Thursday upbraided government agencies and non-government groups for failing to cooperate against human trafficking, saying the lack of a clear strategy was adding to the problem. Sar Kheng, whose ministry oversees a special anti-trafficking unit, said the lack of cohesion meant a a waste of resources. He spoke at an anti-trafficking workshop in Phnom Penh to about 80 participants from the government and NGOs, including provincial authorities. "In the past, activity has been conducted at a distance, with no clear goals or strategies and no compromises, which has caused overlaps in work," he said. Government and non-government units need to combine their resources and expertise with law enforcement officials and other to better curb human trafficking, he said. Last year, the government interceded in 160 cases of human trafficking, smuggling or labor exploitation, according to official figures. Those cases involved nearly 700 victims of trafficking, including nearly 300 juveniles. Chou Bun Eng, who chairs a government committee to suppress trafficking, said the government is working with a plan that improves awareness of trafficking and provides legal support and alternative choices. "We think that the three-point strategy can help Cambodians be free from more danger," she said. However, Lim Mony, head of the women's unit for the rights group Adhoc, said that while she supports the strategy in principle, it is not moving forward in reality. "If there is no will in the implementation of this strategy, with strength and fairness, it's still useless and won't provide a positive result for our society," she said.  | ||||
| US-Cambodians Begin Signing Landmine Petition Posted: 23 Jun 2011 05:10 PM PDT Thursday, 23 June 2011 Sok Khemara, VOA Khmer | Washington, DC
Cambodians living in the Seattle, Wash., area have begun putting their names on a petition asking the US to join an international landmine treaty. Organizers of the petition, including a Cambodian landmine victim and Nobel Prize laureate, Tun Channareth, say they want to collect 1,000 signatures before sending the petition to US President Barack Obama. According to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, 156 countries have signed an international mine ban and 108 have signed a convention against cluster munitions. Neither the US nor Cambodia are among them. Henry Ung, a manager at the World Financial Group in Seattle, said he met with Tun Channareth and decided to support the cause and sign the petition. "I support him 100 percent in this field," Ung said. Ung fled the Khmer Rouge over the Dangrek mountains in 1979, crossing a mine field to get to Thailand. "That's why I understand this," he said. Warya Pothan, who has lived in Seattle since 1975, said she supported the petition because "there are a lot of landmines in our country of Cambodia, and the casualties are so many." Millions of landmines remain in Cambodia, although the annual fatality rate has dropped from 1,154 to 185 over the last decade. Moly Som, who came to Seattle in 1977, said she too supported the petition "to make peace in the world." Many signatories to the petition were moved by Tun Channareth's work. He lost his legs to a landmine in 1982 while fighting in Cambodia's post-Khmer Rouge civil war. "He is very brave," said Dani Morton, a grassroots activist in Seattle who also signed the petition. "He does wonderful work, and for those of us with both hands and legs, indeed, he hasn't asked us for anything but our signatures." Morton arrived in the US in 1981, via a Thai camp, but she saw many family members perish to landmines along the border. "We should help each other," she said, "and make President Obama participate."  | ||||
| Unease at peace-keeping drills: Thai soldiers say Cambodian troops 'won't talk to them' Posted: 23 Jun 2011 05:05 PM PDT
24/06/2011 Wassana Nanuam Bangkok Post A week into a peace-keeping drill led by the United States, Thai soldiers say there was a "wall" between them and fellow Cambodian troops that is preventing them from developing a bond with one another. The drill, called Ayara Guardian 2011, includes about 400 soldiers from 13 countries, including Thailand and Cambodia. The exercise started June 18 and runs until July 1 at the Infantry Centre of Thanarat Camp in Pran Buri district. Thailand has 60 soldiers in the drills, and the Cambodian Peace-keeping Centre sent 48 troops. Other countries that have sent soldiers include the Philippines, Mongolia, Nepal, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Rwanda. A Thai participant said Cambodian supervisors had ordered their subordinates not to talk to or befriend Thai soldiers during the drill. "We only talk to each other when it's necessary. So, the atmosphere is not as friendly as before," said the Thai soldier who asked for anonymity. He said some Cambodian officers could speak Thai, but they avoid talking to Thai soldiers so they don't unintentionally leak information about the country's military. "Sawasdee" is the only word the Cambodians are willing to say when meeting Thai soldiers. Sgt Long Tony, one of the five female Cambodian soldiers taking part in the drill, however, said there was no distrust between Thai and Cambodian soldiers. Sgt Long said she had attended the US-led peace-keeping drill before but this was the first time that she joined one in Thailand. She admitted that she had not talked to Thai soldiers much. But it was just because Thai soldiers were not keen on speaking English. All she can do is smile at the Thai soldiers during the drills. Sgt Yaren Chea, 24, another female Cambodian soldier, said the confrontation between Thai and Cambodian troops along the the two countries' border between February and May had nothing to do with the perceived gap between them at the Ayara drill. "Whatever has happened at the border, the drills with Thai and Cambodian soldiers have went by as normal. We go through the training together and we do talk to each other," she said.  | ||||
| Key Trial of Khmer Rouge Leaders Starts in Cambodia Posted: 23 Jun 2011 01:22 PM PDT
Robert Carmichael, VOA | Phnom Penh We want to hear what they have to say." We want to hear what they have to say." We want to hear what they have to say." We want to hear what they have to say." On Monday the United Nations-backed tribunal in Phnom Penh will open its hearing into the four surviving leaders of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge movement. Cambodians have waited three decades for this day: when the surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge movement appear in court charged with an array of crimes - genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, murder. The list is long. The four defendants are Nuon Chea, also known as Brother Number Two, who is considered the movement's chief ideologue; Khieu Samphan, the head of state; Ieng Sary, the foreign minister and, his wife, Ieng Thirith, the social action minister. The defendants in this case, the court's second, deny all charges. That marks a change from Case One, where former security chief Kaing Guek Eav, known as Comrade Duch, admitted his role and pledged to cooperate with the court. Case One Duch ran the notorious S-21 security center in Phnom Penh, where at least 14,000 men, women and children were held, tortured, and then executed as enemies of the revolution. Duch was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity and was jailed for 30 years. He has appealed his conviction. Duch was charged with implementing policy, in his case, that involved torture and executions to unmask so-called strings of traitors whom the regime believed were trying to undermine the revolution. But the four defendants in Case Two are effectively on trial for devising policy, which distances them from atrocities. Clair Duffy monitors the tribunal on behalf of the Soros-funded Open Society Justice Initiative. She says that difference will likely feature in defense arguments. "When we have seen trials of this scope involving defendants at that level of leadership allegedly, that is the kind of defense that has typically been run - either that they were not present at meetings where these kinds of policies were devised or that they weren't aware of what actually was going to be the result of the policies that were being devised- i.e.: killings, torture, etc," said Duffy. Complexities When the court closed Case Two last year, tribunal officials said the case file of 350,000 documents would make this the most complex since the Nuremberg trials of the Nazis. There are other complexities too. For a start the tribunal has recently been wracked by divisions over its handling of two more cases - known as Cases Three and Four. The Cambodian government has long said it would not permit those last cases to proceed because they could threaten the country's stability. Investigating judges have been accused of deliberately undermining the cases because of political pressure. Several U.N. staff member recently quit the investigations office in response, and there are fears that the court's handling of Cases Three and Four could damage its legacy. Another challenge is that all four defendants are elderly, between 79 and 85 years old, and none is in robust health. The trial will likely take several years, and there are fears one or more could die before it ends. That is what happened in the trial of former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic at The Hague, as well as with a number of defendants at the Rwanda tribunal. OSJI's Duffy says a new rule will allow convictions or acquittals to be delivered against the accused as the trial proceeds. So unless a defendant dies very early on, they would either be convicted or acquitted of certain crimes prior to the trial's conclusion. "The objective of that is potentially to shorten the trial into smaller bite-size pieces and render judgment progressively on each part rather than have one huge trial involving four accused that potentially goes on for years and judgment is never rendered in relation to one or even all of them," she said. At 84, Nuon Chea, who was Pol Pot's deputy, is the second-oldest defendant. He has previously blamed Cambodia's age-old enemy Vietnam for much of what went wrong during his government's rule. Fair trial One of Nuon Chea's defense lawyers, Michiel Pestman, says he is not optimistic his client will receive a fair trial. "The signs are on red as far as we are concerned. We are seriously worried that this court is unable to do what they are supposed to do, and that is deliver a fair trial," said Pestman. Pestman accuses the investigation office, which is meant to be objective in its search for evidence of guilt or innocence, of deliberately favoring information that would convict, rather than acquit, his client. He says that has undermined Nuon Chea's fair trial rights. "And we have tried to influence this investigation, but all our requests to hear certain witnesses were rejected," said Pestman. "And now we are hoping that the Trial Chamber will hear those witnesses. And we will hear on Monday whether they are willing to do so, but we are afraid that they are not as interested as we think they should be." Much of the evidence against the four accused has come from a genocide research project in Phnom Penh called the Documentation Center of Cambodia. It provided around half a million documents to the tribunal. DC-Cam's director is Youk Chhang, and along with millions of Cambodians, he has waited three decades for this day. Youk Chhang says Case Two has the potential to help Cambodians come to terms with their history. "So I think case two is the most important for me," said Chhang. "I think also for many other survivors as well, because we all know these four guys. As we all know they have no acknowledgments about what happened. They put all the blame to their subordinates, and they blame others. So I think that is important that we have [it]. We want to hear what they have to say." Whatever the outcome, and regardless of whether any or all of the defendants survive the trial, Monday is highly significant. The surviving leaders of one of the 20th century's most brutal political movements will stand trial for crimes committed in the name of their revolution.  | ||||
| The troubling involvement of former monk Tach Berong in Wat Vipassanaram (Wat Ay-rab) in Long Beach Posted: 23 Jun 2011 01:11 PM PDT Dear Readers, We received the following information from an anonymous reader in Long Beach, California, asking us to post his letter. We cannot verify this information and we are posting it here for your information only. Thank you, KI-Media team   | ||||
| Cambodia Primed for the Main Event Posted: 23 Jun 2011 12:46 PM PDT
June 24, 2011 By Luke Hunt The Diplomat For more than a decade, the critics have exerted undue influence over attempts to try the surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge and deliver some kind of justice for the atrocities committed under their rule. Cambodia, they say, is too corrupt, too inept, or just too disinterested to establish culpability for one of the great outrages of the 20th century. The critics remain out in force, but despite their often hysterical cries about the flaws of a troubled country the main event is about to get underway at the Extraordinary Chambers for the Courts in Cambodia (ECCC). Former Brother Number Two Nuon Chea, one-time head of state Khieu Samphan, former Foreign Minister Ieng Sary and his wife Ieng Thirith have indicated they will plead not guilty and fight tooth and nail charges of genocide and crimes against humanity once Case 002 begins on Monday. These four are most important because they are the surviving members of Khmer Rouge committees that wrote and deployed government policies that stripped Cambodia of its cultural heritage and a third of its population. Money was abandoned and cities emptied as millions were marched into the countryside to work as slave labour. Hundreds of thousands were condemned to death because they didn't fit Pol Pot's vision of a pure Angkorian society. Muslim Chams, ethnic Vietnamese and intellectuals like high school teachers were among the high profile victims, while people with dark skin – supposedly reflecting time under the sun and a communist approved peasant background – were applauded. Few could be more pleased to see Case 002 finally get underway than Mek Naing, who struggles to raise his children on a tiny farm on a dusty, remote road about 80 kilometres northeast of Phnom Penh. The 37 year-old divides his spare time between making charcoal and making sure intrepid travellers who find their way to Omlaing understand what happened here more than three decades ago, and why the local villagers once gave up eating fish. Mek Naing is the unofficial keeper of M-13, the death camp established by Pol Pot and Kang Guek Eav, also known as Duch, in 1971. His dilapidated shacks are the nearest dwellings to the site, a three-kilometre hike into the scrub, through thickets, secondary forest and two crossings of the Trapaing Chrab River. The mass graves left behind are impossible to find without the help of a local. At first glance, the pits and ponds are visually much less dramatic than the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek on the outskirts of the capital – or the evidence of violence and torture on display at Tuol Sleng, the infamous Phnom Penh high school which was transformed into the S-21 death camp. What made this clump of dirt significant was that M-13 served as the prototype for S-21, with Duch as commandant. Official estimates put the number of tortured and killed at S-21 near 16,000, but sources at the tribunal say fresh evidence indicates that number would now be closer to 24,000. About 200 such camps were constructed across the country once the Khmer Rouge seized power in April 1975, amid the Cold War power plays of the day. Much of the evidence surrounding M-13 emerged in Case 001, which last year resulted in a guilty verdict for Duch and the first successful prosecution for the ECCC. His 35-year jail term, before time off, is currently before an appeal. Among Duch's revelations was the existence of the previously unknown M-13, established in the communist-held zone of Omlaing when Pol Pot's forces were still battling the US-backed Lon Nol government for control of the country. 'It's really important, in the telling of history, what happened 30 years ago,' said Khmer American author and lawyer Theary Seng after Duch was convicted. 'The Khmer Rouge tribunal is now shedding light on this very, very dark period.' About 300 people died in M-13. From behind a wall of bullet proof glass, Duch told the court that M-13 was designed to 'detain, to torture, and to smash, that is to kill.' Chan Voeun, an M-13 employee, testified it was here that Duch appeared happy, like a madman, while torturing prisoners. This included hanging a woman from a tree, before her shirt was stripped-off and her breasts burned with a lit kerosene rag. At S-21, a special unit of female guards looked after women prisoners. Babies were taken from their mothers; water boarding and electric shocks were common. Prisoners were kept alive long enough to have their blood drawn for use in field hospitals. Others were chained to a bed and decapitated. At Choeung Ek, prisoners dug their own shallow graves, were bludgeoned with an ox-cart axle, had their throats slit and bodies dumped. A Vietnamese invasion ended Pol Pot's reign in January 1979, and laid bare the atrocities committed over the previous three years and nine months. In Omlaing, Mek Naing says villagers threw a feast once the Khmer Rouge withdrew deeper into the countryside. It was then that the full scale of what happened at M-13 hit home. 'What people noticed was an abundance of fish, which they cooked, and the smell of rotting corpses,' Mek Naing says. 'Men and women were handcuffed or tied to poles erected in large pits that filled up rapidly as the rainy season set in. They were drowned and fed to the fish. Their remains were left in the mass graves for decades, their bones still shackled to the poles.' 'People then realised what they were dining on, and they swore off fish more than a decade,' he added. Two decades of conflict followed the Vietnamese invasion, and another decade of peacetime bickering with the United Nations ensued before the ECCC could be established. Amid all this, the Khmer Rouge remained a Cold War relic, escaping justice and denying their compatriots a chance to find closure on one of the darkest chapters of the 20th century. That changes on Monday.  | ||||
| Posted: 23 Jun 2011 08:57 AM PDT
  Jun 23rd, 2011 By David Boyle and Vong Sokheng The Phnom Penh Post A sand dredging operation of "unprecedented scale" on the Tatai river, in Koh Kong province, had decimated fish stocks, ruined eco-tourism projects and released foul-smelling gases into the air since it began in May, business owners said yesterday. Ruling party senator Ly Yong Phat's company, LYP Group, had been granted sole rights to dredge sand in the area for export after applying for a licence late last year, Mao Hak, director of river works at the Ministry of Water Resources, said. Janet Newman, owner of the Rainbow Lodge resort on the Tatai river, said yesterday the dredging operation had begun on May 17 and was destroying her business. Four cranes were now pumping sand 15 metres from the resort, sometimes for 24 hours at a time, she said. "I took some customers out on the water for a sunset the other day. It was like a city, it was like Kevin Costner 's Water World," Newman said, adding that in one day she had seen a total of 21 ships and barges, seven cranes and a massive bucket conveyer belt in a one-kilometre stretch of river. The dredging of "unprecedented scale" had also caused foul-smelling gases to rise, which she feared could have a devastating impact on the area's rich mangrove ecosystems. Thomas Stien, the owner of Neptune Bungalows, said yesterday he had not received a single guest since mid-April because of the dredging. "All the way up from the Koh Kong river up to the Tatai river, there are maybe 150 boats," he said, adding that one enormous vessel was about a kilometre long. On June 6, 114 villagers from the Tatai area submitted a petition to provincial officials and relevant ministries complaining that dredging had almost wiped out river life, Tep Malar, head of the eco-tourism community based in Anlong Vak village, in Tatai Krom commune, said. He added yesterday that members of his community were angry because the dredging had affected their businesses and their basic livelihood. "We found that crab and fish catches were drastically declining as polluted water from the sand-dragging operation was close to our village," he said. "Both local and foreign tourists were scared of boats crashing while there were so many vessels to transport sand along the river." Officials said yesterday the government would monitor the site. "Only LYP Group has been allowed to do sand dragging at Tatai for export," Mao Hak said. "The government's sand management committee will monitor the company once or twice a year and if we find that the operation is not [implemented] in the proper technical way, we will ask the company to stop." It was unclear yesterday whether the licence violated an export ban placed on dredged sand by Prime Minister Hun Sen in 2009 "in order to protect the stability of the natural environments of rivers and marine areas". The premier said at the time a total ban on marine dredging would be enforced, except where sand gathered and replenished itself naturally or where build-up was obstructing waterways. Dredging to serve local sand demand would also be allowed. Ly Yong Phat said yesterday LYP Group had been exporting sand to Singapore on and off for the past year, but had temporarily suspended its export operations because of lack of demand. "Our main activity that we received the licence from the government for is to drain sand out of the river in order to avoid floods," he said. George Boden, a London-based campaigner for Global Witness, said yesterday it was obvious that the Cambodian government gave scant regard to environmental and social concerns when awarding dredging licences. "Obviously, when there is no information about how and when these rights are given out and they are given out to senior CPP senators, there are questions about how it is they came to own those rights and the process by which they got them," Boden said. "There are a number of important species in the area, and previously dredging has been taking place inside protected areas." Newman, however, said that the ministries of fisheries, tourism and water resources had shared her concerns.  | ||||
| Viet invaders sent back home in coffins Posted: 23 Jun 2011 08:43 AM PDT
6/23/2011 Thanh Nien News (Hanoi) Cambodia on Tuesday repatriated the remains of 11 Vietnamese volunteer soldiers who died during the war against the Khmer Rouge regime. It was the last repatriation under an agreement signed between the Vietnamese and Cambodian governments to search for the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and military experts between 2003 and 2011. So far the remains of 240 soldiers have been found and sent back to Vietnam. At the ceremony organized in Kongpong Chnang Province, Dr. Tut Marim, advisor to Cambodia Prime Minister Hun Sen, said his people would always be grateful for the sacrifices made by the Vietnamese government, soldiers and people in helping free the Cambodian people from the genocidal acts of Pol Pot (1925-1998). Colonel Phan Van Thu, deputy chief of political affairs at the 9th Military Region of the Vietnam People's Army, and other Vietnam officials also attended the ceremony. It was estimated that under Pol Pot's leadership between 1975-1979, between 750,000-3 million people died from executions, forced labor, malnutrition and poor medical care, accounting for about 21 percent of the then Cambodian population. Polpot also ordered an invasion of Vietnam in December 1978, which killed more than 3,000 Vietnamese civilians.  | ||||
| Laos defies neighbours on dam project - environmentalists Posted: 23 Jun 2011 08:38 AM PDT Thu Jun 23, 2011 BANGKOK (Reuters) - Laos is forging ahead with construction of a controversial $3.5 billion hydropower dam in breach of an agreement to suspend the project pending approval by ministers of neighbouring countries, an environmental group said on Thursday. The Lao government has already given Thai developer Ch Karnchang the go-ahead to resume work on the Xayaburi Dam, informing the company that the Mekong River Commission's (MRC) decision-making process was complete, according to International Rivers, an environmental and human rights group. "The government of Laos has committed an egregious breach of trust and has joined the ranks of rogue nations," Ame Trandem, a campaigner with International Rivers, said in a statement, citing leaked correspondence. With its big ambitions to export hydropower, impoverished Laos is dubbed the "battery of Southeast Asia", but experts warn that the Xayaburi project -- one of 11 new dams planned by Laos -- could cause untold environmental damage and spark a food security crisis downstream in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. Mekong basin countries are bound by treaty to hold inter-governmental consultations before building dams. After months of pressure from environmentalists and neighbouring countries, Laos agreed on April 19 to defer the project until a meeting of ministers of the four countries involved, slated for the end of the year. However, International Rivers distributed a leaked letter to the media on Thursday, dated June 8 and sent by Laos' energy ministry to the Xayaburi Power Company, stating the consultation process was complete. Shares in Ch Karnchang Pcl, which has a 57 percent stake in the Xayaburi Dam, had jumped 4 percent on Monday after state-run Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, which has a 12.5 percent stake in the dam, said Laos might not delay construction of the project. Ch Karnchang declined to comment on Thursday while authorities in Laos were not immediately available for comment. Ecologists and river experts have criticised an environmental impact assessment conducted last year by the Lao government and warn that the livelihoods of 60 million people in the lower Mekong region are at risk if the dam goes ahead without proper risk assessment. Scores of fish species face extinction, fish stocks will dwindle as migratory routes get blocked and swathes of rice-rich land could be deprived of fertile silt carried downstream by Southeast Asia's longest waterway, experts say. Laos is committed to supplying 7,000 MW of power to Thailand, 5,000 MW to Vietnam and 1,500 MW to Cambodia by 2015. Its energy ministry says it has the potential to generate 28,000 MW from the Mekong. Watt Botkosal, deputy secretary general of Cambodia's National Mekong Committee, reacted with dismay and said Laos had promised to conduct a cross-border study during a regional meeting in Jakarta last month. "The impact study is incomplete, so why has this decision been made?" Watt Botkosal told Reuters. "We have not even received any such study." According to the leaked letter, Laos said a one-month study had been conducted by an international consultancy group. No details were provided. (Reporting by Martin Petty; Additional reporting by Prak Chan Thul in Phnom Penh; Editing by Alan Raybould)  | ||||
| Pol Pot’s Legacy: Cambodian Refugees in Poor Health Posted: 23 Jun 2011 08:31 AM PDT
Advocates look to expand programs that address a legacy of the Pol Pot era: an epidemic of heart disease, diabetes and stroke among Cambodian-Americans. June 23, 2011 By Colleen Shaddox Miller-McCune Sobin weeps and curls tightly into herself, as if she's trying to disappear into the folds of her overstuffed sofa. Moments later, scowling, she plants her feet and shouts in Khmer. She shakes her fist at someone who isn't there. The objects of her fear and rage are the Khmer Rouge soldiers who forced her into slave labor as a child on what was once her family's farm. Convinced that the Khmer Rouge continue to look for her, Sobin, who lives in a small city in the Northeast, asked that her last name not be used in this article. During her captivity in the 1970s, Sobin was surviving on a small daily ration of rice porridge. Sometimes, she could not work as quickly as the soldiers demanded, and they would tie her down in the hot sun for hours. Sobin estimates her age at 49, explaining that deep in the jungle, no one kept track. She has spent her adult life in the United States. But for this refugee, the past has not receded into mere memory. She remains that terrified girl. Cambodian refugees in the United States are in extremely poor health, according to many studies. Advocates say that the burden of trauma that survivors like Sobin carry contributes to this quiet epidemic among Cambodian-Americans. They cite the extended periods of starvation many Cambodians endured between 1975 and 1979, when an estimated 2 million people died under dictator Pol Pot, and describe present cultural and language barriers to health care. Unless those barriers are overcome quickly, they say, the death toll will continue to climb from Cambodia's Mahant Dorai — literally, "The Great Destruction." "Sixty-year-olds are dying," says Sara Pol-Lim, executive director of United Cambodian Community of Long Beach, Calif., home to the largest Cambodian population in the United States. Most became refugees in the 1970s, when their native country was in turmoil from civil war, authoritarian rule, ethnic cleansing and American bombings. Pol-Lim is seeing many cases of diabetes, chronic pain and other physical problems that she links to long-term, often untreated post-traumatic stress disorder. But there's a problem: No study conclusively proves Cambodian-Americans have high incidences of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and stroke because of what happened to them in the '70s. Such causality would be extremely difficult to establish, and the Cambodians here in the U.S. haven't been well studied. Advocates are struggling to bring national attention to an issue that for most Americans is literally history: the suffering of Cambodians under Pol Pot. At press time, Cambodian-American leaders were scheduled to testify at a policy summit organized by the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus in May at the invitation of the caucus chair, Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.). They are seeking federal funding for a telemedicine program that would coordinate care for Cambodians scattered across the U.S., in an attempt to overcome the language and cultural barriers they say contribute to the community's poor health. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Though health research on Cambodian-Americans is sparse, its conclusions are striking. A 2010 Rand Corporation study of Cambodian refugees living in Long Beach found they scored worse on key health indicators than Californians in general and worse than other Asian immigrants matched for factors such as age and income. Asked to rate their own general health, 89 percent of Cambodian refugees answered fair or poor, the two lowest selections on the scale; that's about four times the rate of the general California population and twice that of the matched group of Asian immigrants. These self-perceptions are powerful. The scale the researchers used has been validated as an even stronger predictor of mortality than an exam by a physician. The Cambodians also showed much higher rates of disability — 70 percent — than either of the comparison groups. Mortality data from Massachusetts in 2003 showed Cambodian-Americans dying from complications of diabetes at more than five times the rate of the general population. Their death rate from stroke was more than double the general population's. Other studies show Cambodian-Americans scoring poorly on measurements of health management. One found that most adult Cambodian-Americans did not know their cholesterol levels. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the number of Cambodian-born people living in the U.S. at less than 300,000. The small size of the Cambodian community not only makes the group difficult to study; its human-services infrastructure is similarly modest. With the population spread across the country, about half the states have no organizations specifically serving Cambodians, according to a report by the National Cambodian American Health Initiative, a policy group composed of Cambodian leaders from around the country, based in West Hartford, Conn. Many of the organizations that do exist have annual budgets of less than $25,000. At the same time, a blend of cultural and practical issues can make it difficult for Cambodian immigrants to use mainstream providers. For example, the average doctor might not take into account their beliefs about traditional healing, and there is a stigma in the community about mental illness, in part born of language. The nearest translation for "mental illness" in Khmer is "schizophrenia." Because the Cambodian community remains largely separate from mainstream America, most concern about a Cambodian health crisis springs not from large studies but from the observations of direct service providers working with Cambodian-Americans. "The community told us. They feel it," says Theanvy Kuoch, executive director of Khmer Health Advocates, also in West Hartford. KHA started out as a mental health organization, but Kuoch says that the group has been overwhelmed with cases of diabetes since the 1990s. The organization's focus has shifted to include programs that help clients manage chronic physical illness. Kuoch and KHA director of programs Mary Scully have stretched their resources by employing the same model that served them well when they met in a Thai refugee camp in the 1970s. They train Khmer speakers as community health workers who can educate people about healthy behaviors and serve as translators, literally and figuratively, in a complex health care system. The workers also help clients deal with the isolation common in this small community. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Rann Vann lights up when her community health worker, Vicheth Im, knocks at the door of her Danbury, Conn., home. Vann welcomes Im into a compact kitchen and sitting room filled with family photographs and prints illustrating stories about Buddha. A picture of her father, a stately man in a white tunic, dominates the room. He died two weeks after the family arrived in the United States in 1986. Vann attributes this to his weakened condition after years of forced labor. Her mother starved to death on one of Pol Pot's farming collectives. Vann herself was taken for dead from starvation on that farm, she says, but when soldiers went to bury her, she stirred slightly beneath the white sheet they had draped over her. "I live in this country by myself. I'm afraid of the daylight. I'm afraid of the night," Vann says, with Im acting as translator. Her conversation is interspersed with English words and phrases as well. Thanks. Oh, yes. Lonely. Vann had an accident on her job in a machine shop and injured her side. Even with the help of an interpreter, it is difficult to tease out her health problems. A doctor gave her an inhaler for breathing difficulties, but he made no diagnosis that Vann can remember. Her hair, luxuriant with black curls in older photos, is now pulled back into a petite chignon. It has been falling out in clumps, Vann says. Sometimes she's dizzy. Sometimes her ankles swell. She falls frequently — nine times in her recent memory. One fall sent her to the hospital with a head wound. "When I went to the doctor, he said, 'Be careful. Don't fall again,'" she says, laughing. Doesn't he know that she doesn't want to fall? When funding allows, Khmer Health Advocates uses videoconferencing to make workers like Im, often paired with pharmacists, available to Cambodian immigrants around the country. A recent trial provided the service remotely in California, as well as in person for Cambodians living in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Thomas Buckley, an assistant clinical professor at the University of Connecticut's School of Pharmacy, worked with KHA to ensure that clients were taking the right medications. The project enrolled people over 60, some of whom took 18 different drugs every day. Buckley says he's encountered patients taking four prescriptions that did the same thing. He estimates that $3 to $6 is saved for every dollar spent running the program; savings come from reduced prescription costs and reduced visits to clinicians. Kuoch and Scully spent much of the spring knocking on doors on Capitol Hill, asking for federal funds to continue and expand the work. Initially, they hoped for congressional hearings on Cambodian health on April 17, the anniversary of the Khmer Rouge's takeover in Cambodia, but that effort was abandoned. "The community isn't ready," said Kuoch, noting how difficult it can be to get survivors to tell their stories. They're settling for a chance to meet with the Asian caucus and work with sympathetic representatives to get regional hearings in their districts. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Simply convincing Cambodians who lived through the Khmer Rouge horror that someone cares about their health is a major achievement, Kuoch says. During the Mahant Dorai, she remembers, "death became normal." And Scully says she sees a fatalism in survivors of the genocide that can lead to unhealthy behaviors and an avoidance of medical care. Asked why she doesn't press doctors to find a cause of her problems, Vann stares down at her lap. "Right now, I think: Am I young or old? I'm old. If you're old, at some point you have to die," she says. Vann is 61. Scully is convinced that the wave of diabetes, stroke and other illnesses that are killing the Cambodian-Americans she sees is the result of the trauma they suffered in their homeland. She talks about measuring levels of cortisol, a hormone released in response to stress, and looking for connections with physical illness. But she knows that as this small community ages, the time to make the case is running out. Sobin cries angry tears when she talks about the trials of accused Khmer Rouge leaders. She resents the defendants getting the opportunity to tell their stories in court. "We never had a voice," she says of her fellow captives. Scully has encouraged Sobin to write a memoir. Sobin shakes her head at the idea. Though she's just spent the afternoon describing her experiences in disturbing detail, she cannot imagine putting them on paper. "Let it die with me," she says.  | ||||
| Harvard University's JUSTICE with Michael Sandel - Episode 4 Posted: 23 Jun 2011 08:30 AM PDT Episode 04Part 1 – THIS LAND IS MY LAND The philosopher John Locke believes that individuals have certain rights—to life, liberty, and property—which were given to us as human beings in the "the state of nature," a time before government and laws were created. According to Locke, our natural rights are governed by the law of nature, known by reason, which says that we can neither give them up nor take them away from anyone else. Part 2 – CONSENTING ADULTS If we all have unalienable rights to life, liberty, and property, how can a government enforce tax laws passed by the representatives of a mere majority? Doesn't that amount to taking some people's property without their consent? Locke's response is that we give our "tacit consent" to obey the tax laws passed by a majority when we choose to live in a society.  | ||||
| SRP-Europe Seminar and Information meeting with Opposition Leader Sam Rainsy and SRP MPs Posted: 23 Jun 2011 08:03 AM PDT  Chers Membres du PSR, PSR-EUROPE organisera le séminaire du Parti Sam Rainsy et la réunion d'information présidés par Monsieur Sam Rainsy, Président du Parti Sam Rainsy, avec la participation de deux députés venant du Cambodge. PSR-EUROPE a l'honneur et le plaisir de vous inviter à ces deux réunions qui auront lieu les 07 et 08 juillet 2011 à partir de 9H00 à l'Espace V, Salle des fêtes Josephine Beker, avenueJean Fourgeaud, 92420 Villepinte. Lettre d'invitation en pièces jointes. PSR-EUROPE ----------- What: SRP-EUROPE Seminar and Information meeting with Sam Rainsy and SRP MPs When: 07-08 July 2011 Starting at 9AM Where: Espace V, Salle des fêtes Josephine Baker Avenue Jean Fourgeaud 92420 Villepinte, France  | ||||
| Posted: 23 Jun 2011 07:55 AM PDT  CCHR Media Comment, Phnom Penh, 23 June 2011 Media Comment: CCHR offers condolences to the family of acid attack victim In Soklda and calls for a holistic approach to acid violence Acid attack victim Ya Sokhnim, the aunt of a prominent beauty queen In Soklyda, died in Phnom Penh yesterday (22 June 2011) of injuries resulting from a 2008 crime masterminded by her niece's former lover Chea Ratha. On 8 May 2008, two men on a motorcycle accosted Ya Sokhnim in the capital and poured acid over her face and upper body. She suffered severe burns as a result, losing her right eye and her breast. In 2009 the Appeal Court found that Chea Ratha, a former deputy chief of staff of the military police and In Soklyda's lover, had ordered the attack after In Soklyda fled a forced relationship. Four of the suspects including Chea Ratha remain at large and are thought to have fled Cambodia. Commenting on the Ya Sokhnim case John Coughlan, Senior Legal Consultant at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, a non-aligned, independent, non-governmental organization that works to promote and protect democracy and respect for human rights throughout Cambodia, said: "I am both shocked and saddened to hear that Ya Sokhnim has succumbed to her injuries as a result of this horrific attack. My thoughts and condolences are with her family during this extremely difficult time. This wretched case reminds us of the need for a holistic approach to acid violence which goes beyond having a robust acid law, which hopefully the forthcoming law will be. The Royal Government of Cambodia needs to ensure that enforcement is effective which includes the putting in place of bilateral extradition arrangements that hold perpetrators to account for their crimes, irrespective of whether they have absconded or not. The likes of Chea Ratha should not be able to evade the justice that the victims deserve and that sadly Ya Sokhnim has now been deprived." For more information please contact John Coughlan at +855 89 58 35 90 or Please find this media comment attached in English. A Khmer version will follow shortly. -- The Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) is a non-aligned, independent, non-governmental organization that works to promote and protect democracy and respect for human rights throughout Cambodia. For more information, please visit www.cchrcambodia.org.  | ||||
| French Prime Minister set to visit Posted: 23 Jun 2011 07:50 AM PDT Thursday, 23 June 2011 Cheang Sokha The Phnom Penh Post French Prime Minister Francois Fillion is set to pay an official visit to Cambodia early next month. Fillion is due to attend an event to mark the completion of the restoration of Baphuon Temple, in Siem Reap, during a two-day visit, according to Cambodia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A statement issued yesterday said Fillon's visit was set to take place on July 2 and 3. During the visit, Fillon would hold official talks with Prime Minister Hun Sen and would received Royal audiences from King Norodom Sihamoni and King-Father Norodom Sihanouk. Besides attending the closing ceremony of the completion of Baphuon Temple's restoration, Fillion would also visit the Angkor temples, the statement said. Earlier this year, French ambassador to Cambodia Christian Connan told The Post that the European country was placing an increased emphasis on investment and loans to help the Kingdom's economic development, rather than assistance through development aid. French development aid to Cambodia last year amounted to €25 million (about US$35 million), including multilateral aid to areas such as the Khmer Rouge tribunal, funding to fight disease, and economic development projects through organisations such as the Asian Development Bank. In April this year, French relations received a boost when national airline Air France KLM restarted flights to the Kingdom – through Bangkok – after a 37-year break. The French embassy in Phnom Penh and the French Cultural Centre declined to comment last night.  | ||||
| Acid victim in notorious attack dies Posted: 23 Jun 2011 07:48 AM PDT
Thursday, 23 June 2011 Mom Kunthear The Phnom Penh Post Acid attack victim Ya Sokhnim, the aunt of prominent beauty queen In Soklyda, died in Phnom Penh yesterday morning of injuries stemming from a 2008 crime masterminded by her niece's lesbian lover. Ya Soknim's husband Uong Vibol, 46, said yesterday his 39-year-old wife had passed away about 9am after being admitted to the Calmette Hospital a week ago. "I really pity and mourn my wife. She died because she was injured very seriously by acid," he said. On May 8 , 2008, two men on a motorcycle accosted Ya Soknim in the capital and poured acid over her face and upper body. She suffered severe burns as a result, losing her right eye and breast. Chea Ratha, former deputy chief of staff of the military police and In Soklyda's lover, was acquitted in absentia in August, 2009 along with six suspects: Ea Puthea, Meas Mao, Siek Chandy, Chan Dara, San Nuth and Siek Sophal. Three months later, however, the Appeal Court reversed that decision and handed the suspects sentences of between 15 and 18 years in prison. Although the Supreme Court reversed one conviction in October last year, it upheld the Appeal Court verdict for the remaining six and agreed Chea Ratha had ordered the attack after In Soklyda fled a forced lesbian relationship. Four of the suspects remain at large. Evidence presented in court at the time of the investigation included recorded phone calls in which Chea Ratha threatened to kill In Soklyda's relatives, phone logs for Chea Ratha and her co-defendants on the day of the attack, and a report confirming acid was found in the home of one of Chea Ratha's associates. Uong Vibol said yesterday that Ya Soknim had used so many medicines to treat her injuries that it had affected her health, causing lung and intestinal disease. "She could not eat and she always vomited. I really pity my wife. She should not have died in a very difficult situation like this," he said. Am Sam Ath, senior monitor at rights group Licadho, said yesterday that he regretted both Ya Soknim's death and that some of the perpetrators in the attack had not been arrested, even though the court had convicted them. "She passed away carrying injustice with her because she did not see police arrest the perpetrators to punish them through the law," he said. National Police spokesman Kirt Chantharith could not be reached for comment yesterday, but told The Post in June last year that police had investigated the case and sought to arrest Chea Ratha. "It is not easy to arrest her because she is not in our country. She lives in another country, so it is difficult to arrest her if the authorities in that country don't co-operate with us," he said. Am Sam Ath added that police officials needed to improve their skills because there had been no arrests in connection with acid attack cases such as that of Tat Marina, a karaoke actress who was the victim of a brutal acid attack in 1999. Yesterday, however, the Phnom Penh Municipal Court sentenced three perpetrators of an acid attack that took place in the capital in January this year. Brothers Ne Phaneth, 23, and Ne Phaneath, 25, were sentenced to four years in prison for pouring the acid. A woman, Hao La, was sentenced to three years in jail after it was found that she was responsible for initiating the attack on the victims, Rin Sok Lin and Seng Touch. "They seriously wounded two women by pouring acid on them. These actions are against the law and have no place in Cambodian society," Judge Seang Nang said. "Therefore, the court has decided to sentence them both to four years in prison and jointly compensate the victims of the attack 30 million riel (US$7,315)." Hao La worked in the same factory as Seng Touch which, according to police reports, was the site of an argument between the two women that eventually led to the acid attack. All three of the perpetrators declined to comment after their guilty verdicts were handed down. Their lawyers could not be reached for comment. Rin Sok Lin, a 25-year-old victim of the attack, said she had wanted the court to sentence the perpetrators to five to 10 years in prison, but thought the sentences given were better than no sentences at all. ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY BUTH REAKSMEY KONGKEA  | ||||
| Convention on the Rights of the Child Posted: 23 Jun 2011 05:48 AM PDT Convention on the Rights of the Child Ratified by UNGA in Nov. 1989, entered into force 1990 Cambodia ratified this Convention on October 15, 1992 PART IArticle 111. States Parties shall take measures to combat the illicit transfer and non-return of children abroad. 2. To this end, States Parties shall promote the conclusion of bilateral or multilateral agreements or accession to existing agreements.  | ||||
| Posted: 23 Jun 2011 05:45 AM PDT Law on the Establishment of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed During the Period of Democratic Kampuchea ("ECCC Law") with inclusion of amendments as promulgated on 27 October 2004 CHAPTER IX OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATION Article 30 The staff of the judges, the investigating judges and prosecutors of the Extraordinary Chambers shall be supervised by an Office of Administration. This Office shall have a Cambodian Director, a foreign Deputy Director and such other staff as necessary.  | ||||
| Hello VOA: Guests are AKRVC officers Theary Seng, Ly Monysak Posted: 23 Jun 2011 02:56 AM PDT Hello VOA Thursday, June 23, 2011 8:40 P.M. Guests: President Ms. Theary C. SENG Founding member Mr. LY Monysak
Mr. LY Monysak lost every member of his immediate family to the Khmer Rouge regime, all 21 of them. He is a member of the Civil Parties of Orphans Class in Case 002 against Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, Ienth Thirith. Below is a poem written by Mr. LY Monysak:   | ||||
| Posted: 23 Jun 2011 01:51 AM PDT
James O'Toole The Phnom Penh Post Press reports from 2001 cite Prime Minister Hun Sen discussing the possibility of around 10 suspects being tried at the court Cambodia's war crimes tribunal will convene the initial hearing on Monday in a trial that has been more than a decade in the making. Legal wrangling between the United Nations and the Cambodian government dating back to the 1990s dragged on for years before the two sides settled on an arrangement that satisfied both UN concerns about judicial independence and local sovereignty desires. Long judicial probes followed legal and logistical negot-iations, and pre-trial appeals against the indictment in the case took several months to resolve following the conclusion of investigations last year. But for all the preparation that has led up to the second trial, it has been overshadowed of late by controversy over the court's Case 003, with tribunal judges standing accused of deliberately botching their investigation under pressure from the Cambodian government, which opposes prosecutions beyond Case 002. Rights groups and internat-ional co-prosecutor Andrew Cayley have urged that the investigation be reopened, a request that so far has not been heeded. With staff from the investigating judges' office having begun resigning in protest, the conflict over Case 003 appears to have reached full bloom in recent weeks. Some observers say, however, that the seeds for the present disagreement were planted long ago. "The real crux of the issue appears to be a disagreement over the scope of the tribunal's jurisdiction — a disagreement that was never adequately resolved in the political negotiations to create the court," John Ciorciari, an assistant professor of public policy at the University of Michigan, said in an email. The 2003 agreement between the government and the UN that established the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, as the tribunal is formally known, sets out its mandate to prosecute "senior leaders" and those "most responsible" for crimes under the Khmer Rouge. Although defence teams are likely to contest the point, there is little controversy over whether the four defendants in Case 002 fall into the category of "senior leaders". With their cabinet-level posit-ions in the regime, former KR Brother No 2 Nuon Chea, head of state Khieu Samphan, foreign minister Ieng Sary and social action minister Ieng Thirith had long been envisaged as possible suspects for the court ahead of their arrests in 2007. In the case of Kaing Guek Eav, the former S-21 prison chief who last July became the first person convicted at the tribunal, Ciorciari said both the UN and the Cambodian government "clearly" considered the infamous jailer to fall into the category of most responsible "due to the particularly heinous nature of his offences and the abundance of evidence against him". Alex Hinton, director of the Centre for the Study of Genocide, Conflict Resolution and Human Rights at Rutgers University, called the jurisdiction negotiations a "tricky issue". "On the one hand, the negot-ators wanted clarity," he said in an email. "On the other hand, negotiators can't make the final decisions about who will be tried. This had to be left to the jurists at the court." The suspects in Case 003 remain officially confidential but are widely known to be former Khmer Rouge navy commander Meas Mut and air force commander Sou Met. The pair are alleged to have been responsible for thousands of deaths, though Cambodian court officials have nonetheless argued that the men fall outside the tribunal's jurisdiction. "The suspects mentioned [in] the Case File 003 were not either senior leaders or those who were most responsible," Cambodian co-prosecutor Chea Leang said in a statement last month. The agreement establishing the tribunal, she added, "envisaged the prosecution of a limited number of people". But David Scheffer, who was involved in the talks to establish the court in his former role as United States ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, wrote in an essay last month that negotiators "typically spoke of up to 15 or so individuals ultimately being prosecuted". "I am struck by how a distorted view of the personal jurisdiction of the ECCC still appears to deeply influence the work of those whose responsibility lies with an accurate reading of the ECCC Law and the UN-[Cambodian government] Agreement," Scheffer wrote. A report released last week by the Open Society Justice Initiative, which monitors the court, supports Scheffer's point, noting that Meas Mut and Sou Met held positions of significant authority in the KR hierarchy in addition to their alleged dir-ect links to mass atrocities. "Taken at face value, it is difficult to comprehend how senior officials such as Meas Muth and Sou Met could legitimately be found not to fall under . . . the ECCC's jurisdiction," the report said. The tribunal's international prosecutors have said they will pursue no further cases beyond Case 003 and Case 004, which involves a trio of mid-level KR officials. Press reports from 2001 cite Prime Minister Hun Sen discussing the possibility of around 10 suspects being tried at the court, but more recently, the premier has been resolute in opposing Cases 003 and 004, telling UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon last year that they "will not be allowed". Hun Sen has previously cited the potential for "civil war" in response to additional prosecutions, though few commentators see this as realistic. Equally, there is no danger of any high-level officials in the Cambodian People's Party leadership being targeted for prosecution, though Hun Sen may fear that trials beyond Case 002 could nonetheless strike fear into the ranks of former Khmer Rouge defectors now integrated with the government. "Those in power will never let it get to a level at which it could spread out in any unpredictable way," historian David Chandler said. Hans Corell, who served as the UN's undersecretary general for legal affairs during the talks to establish the tribunal, said in an email that negotiat-ors "certainly foresaw conflict, mainly manifested in a situat-ion where an international co-investigating judge or an international co-prosecutor wanted to pursue a case and the Cambodian counterpart was of a different opinion". In Case 003, however, German co-investigating judge Siegfried Blunk has apparently joined his Cambodian counterpart in quashing the investigation, leaving limited recourse for international prosecutors. Corell said the language sett-ing out the court's jurisdiction "is clear enough", noting that a similar provision at the Special Court for Sierra Leone had been implemented successfully. Instead, he said, there were fundamental flaws in the make-up of Cambodia's tribunal. "The problem is really that the idea of establishing a truly international tribunal for Cambodia was not accepted by the government," he said. Council of Ministers spokesman Phay Siphan declined to discuss the government's view of the court's mandate, calling this a task for "the lawyers and the judges". "My suggestion is to go back to see what is the mandate through the law – what is the mandate through the government and the UN," he said.  | ||||
| Fighting for justice one step at a time: A day in the life of Mu Sochua Posted: 23 Jun 2011 01:34 AM PDT A Day In The Life Of Mu Sochua from Philip Skoczkowski on Vimeo. A day in the life of human rights activist Mu Sochua, Cambodia. To find out more please visit: http://musochua.org/ http://sochua.wordpress.com/  | ||||
| Cambodian Gold Rush Lures Foreign Giants Posted: 23 Jun 2011 01:32 AM PDT
June 23, 2011 AFP O'Clor, Cambodia. Squinting in the harsh midday sun, Ry Kuok emerges slowly with a bag of rocks on his back from a hand-dug mine in a remote corner of Cambodia known as the "Gold Forest". He's one of hundreds of prospectors searching for the yellow metal in the isolated village of O'Clor in northeast Mondulkiri province, where a modern-day gold rush is threatened by the arrival of foreign mining giants. On a good day, the 29-year-old can earn about $12.50. Not bad in a country where a third of the population survives on less than a dollar a day. The work is dangerous, difficult — and completely illegal. Carried out by tens of thousands of Cambodians across the impoverished country, the practice has been quietly tolerated by the government for decades. But that is about to change as companies move in and invest millions of dollars to develop a gold mining industry, leaving no room for illegal prospectors. "I don't expect we can mine here for much longer," said Kuok as he sifted through his dirty rocks looking for any glints of gold. "We have been told that a company has bought the area and we are not allowed to dig deeper tunnels." Cambodia is known to host at least 19 gold deposits that have attracted the interest of mining firms from Australia, China, South Korea and Vietnam. Industry experts estimate the country is about five years away from large-scale gold extraction but the true extent of the nation's gold assets remains unclear. In what was hailed as a promising discovery, Australian miner OZ Minerals last year announced a 605,000-ounce gold find in Mondulkiri province but it recently said further drilling projects had disappointed. Even so, Richard Stanger, president of the Cambodian Association of Mining and Exploration Companies, said the mining industry "could be a major contribution to the economy of Cambodia in the future." The illegal O'Clor mine is located in Prey Meas, which translates as the "Gold Forest", and is a treacherous five-hour drive from the province's main town of Sen Monorom. Stripped of its vegetation to make way for a large pit, the mining village's brown, barren landscape is dotted with wooden shacks, piles of litter and shallow pools — a sharp contrast to the green and hilly surroundings. But to miners like Kuok, whose family moved to the area in 1981, it is home. For now. The government has granted a Chinese firm the rights to search for the precious metal in the forest and it has already begun its exploration work right next to the O'Clor mine, which lies in the firm's concession area. A guard at the site said the company's name was Rong Chheng but few details have been made public about the firm or its concession agreement, a lack of transparency that critics say is typical for the country's mining sector. "There is still very little information about the process of allocation of mining rights in Cambodia and what payments are made for their receipt," said George Boden from environmental watchdog Global Witness. Gold prices have struck record highs on international markets and even broke through the $1,500 an ounce barrier in April as investors sought a safe haven in the face of economic uncertainty and high inflation. Most of the illegal miners in the "Gold Forest" earn several hundred dollars a month selling their specks of gold to local traders, income that has been boosted by the soaring bullion price. "We can survive because gold is expensive now," said 51-year-old Sum Sokhon, raising his voice over the noise of his stone-crushing machine. But life in an illegal gold mine town is far from easy. "The area is so dirty," said Sokhon. "We worry about our health. People get sick a lot." Hazardous materials such as mercury or cyanide are often used in the gold extraction process in illegal mines and can pose serious health risks, said Glenn Kendall, an advisor for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Cambodia. The chemicals can cause anything from headaches to damage to the nervous system, according to experts. There are also few safety measures in place and mine blasts and tunnel collapses have claimed lives in O'Clor over the years. "Small-scale mining is a dangerous occupation," said Kendall, adding that the choice to become an illegal miner was usually driven by poverty. He said the fate of the illegal workers was in the hands of the government, but with the right regulation, small--scale miners could co-exist with the professional mining companies. Kong Pisith, chief of Mondulkiri's industry, mining and energy office, said the "Gold Forest" miners would eventually have to halt their activities. "When the extraction starts, they can't mine here anymore. They may become workers for the companies or they will have to change jobs," he said. Prospectors like Sokhon fear the Chinese mining firm will reap the rewards of their hard work. "Cambodian people found the gold, but the company is getting the gold," he said.  | ||||
| Posted: 23 Jun 2011 12:54 AM PDT  Reporter: Marian Wilkinson Producer: Janine Cohen Broadcast: 27/06/2011 Four Corners - ABC Australia The story of the families who fled the killing fields of Cambodia to find safety in Australia, revisited nearly 25 years on. What are they doing? Did they find a home? And what does their experience tell us about the current debate over refugee arrivals? In 1987, with debate raging over refugee policy in Australia, Four Corners told the story of four families who came to this country in search of refuge and a future. The stories they told about life under Pol Pot were difficult to hear. Now reporter Marian Wilkinson returns to those same families and asks them about their struggle to remake their lives in a new country. Speaking frankly, they tell her the good and the bad - the moments of triumph and despair, and what it means for them to be an Australian. For many Cambodian refugees, their story began on 17th April 1975 when Pol Pot's murderous Khmer Rouge took over the capital of their country, Phnom Penh. What followed was horror on a shocking scale. People were driven into the countryside where hundreds of thousands were killed. Others were forced into labour gangs and worked to death. In all, 1.7 million people lost their lives. In the years between Pol Pot's arrival and the tumult of the Vietnamese invasion of the country, many Cambodians fled seeking refuge. In Australia a major debate began about the community's responsibility to these people. In that highly charged atmosphere, reporter Marian Wilkinson sought out four families who made it to Australia to hear what they had been through and why they wanted to live here. There is little doubt that anyone watching would have felt sympathy for 11-year-old Keang, who was forced to stand with many other children whilst the Khmer Rouge soldiers brutally executed one of her friends for stealing food to feed another child. Others told how they listened to the screams as death squads clubbed their friends and families to death without any explanation. The program left little doubt these people needed the Australian community's help. What it couldn't answer was a much bigger question: could the refugees find a place in a society so different from their own? Now with the debate over refugees once again taking centre stage, Four Corners revisits the families to find out how their lives have turned out. We hear how they have struggled to come to terms with a new country that was not always welcoming. Some tell how they married, had children; some began businesses that succeeded, others went bust and even lost their homes. The families also talk about the stresses that developed between the generations that came to Australia and the children who were born here. Despite this, the program shows that the next generation seems to have adjusted well to a new society. Many have found success here, and their parents make it clear how grateful they are to have found a home in Australia. Stepping back from the deeply personal insights each person gives, for anyone forming a successful immigration and refugee policy, there are clear lessons. Giving refuge is one thing, but helping people find a new homeland requires care, understanding and resources. 'Where Are They Now?', presented by Kerry O'Brien, goes to air on Monday 27th June at 8.30pm on ABC1. It is replayed on Tuesday 28th June at 11.35pm. The program can also be seen on ABC News 24 at 8.00pm Saturdays. It is also available on ABC iview and at abc.net.au/4corners.  |
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